It’s a bit surprising, when ya ponder it, there’s not a more
lengthy and deep selection of quality cinematic choices when it comes to films
about living in and around modern Tinsletown. Especially when you consider the
inward navel gazing nature of the town. As the French female lead tries to
convey in Henry Jaglom’s Venice/Venice
when she keeps pointing to her herself, “you’re very much like Los Angeles, how
you say…” Jaglom responds ‘Self indulgent, self- obsessed?’ Yes indeed, she
nods her head affirmative…
Some of the better offerings come from the unlikely source
of Michael Mann’s crime thrillers, a Chicago native, from a real city some
would say, he has an outsider’s analytic view of the sometimes cold, aloof
nature of the city. As Tom Cruise’s Vincent says when he gets in Jamie Fox’s
cab in Collateral , “I hate
this city, I read someone died on the train and it took a week for someone to
report it…” That jaundiced view permeates the dark and lonely trek through the
streets of LA. Mann also conveys the loneliness of Los Angeles single life in
the sub story of DeNiro’s Neil McCauley and Amy Brenneman’s Eady in his
masterwork Heat. Of course,
it’s only a fraction of the sprawling film’s narrative. One of the best film’s
about living in the City of Angeles is David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, which shares some of La La Land’s whimsical, dream like qualities. Whereas
Lynch’s version turns into a nightmare, Damien Chazelle’s more a ‘if only’
scenario. Thom Anderson’s excellent doc Los
Angeles Plays Itself also bears mentioning as well because of the way
Anderson clearly and concisely makes the point Los Angeles starts from a point
of inferiority, reducing itself to the moniker LA, and destroying its own cultural
artifacts, something Chazelle’s film plays off of all too well.
Chazelle starts us off in that classic Hollywood trope of a
traffic jam… in Winter no less, (a repeated sort of in joke: Winter looks the
same as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter again as the film’s divided into these
chapters.) Only in this traffic jam, we get treated to a classical MGM like
musical number that I admit for this viewer was a tad groan inducing, although
I was much in the minority, as it’s conclusion brought a rousing ovation. It’s
in this jam we first meet our leads Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, paired
together again and once again their tremendous chemistry fuels their best work
together yet. We quickly learn Stone’s Mia is a struggling actress, working at a
coffee shop on the WB lot, and Gosling’s Sebastian is a talented and
accomplished Jazz pianist, born a few decades too late as Jazz is not exactly
the top genre on anyone’s Spotify playlist. Of course, as is an absolute necessity in just
about every Hollywood love story ever made, they meet- not- so- cute. He’s an
impatient jerk honking at her as she’s temporarily distracted practicing her
‘sides’ (look it up you Industry challenged people) for an upcoming audition.
The second time he’s a jerk, as he’s just been fired from his gig at the piano
bar in a posh eatery. Mia comes in, hearing his heartfelt playing and ready to
pay him a compliment, he rudely and brusquely blows past her. The third time’s
a charm when she gets a little revenge at a pool party where ‘Seb’ is playing
key boards for a cheesy 80’s tribute band, she requests I Ran by Flock of
Seagulls and gets to see Seb squirm a bit. It’s at this party that the two star
crossed lovers lay the seeds for their nascent relationship. We discover Mia
already has a boyfriend, Greg, whom we meet later and we’re lead into our requisite
dance number where the two lovers assure us, in perfect Millennial style,
they’re really not that into each other.
A far cry from an infinitely
better musical say like West Side Story (to be fair one of the greatest films
ever made) where it’s love at first sight.
It’s scenes like these where phony barriers are erected to
keep the lovers apart where La La
Land feels a bit tired and stereotypical. Yes, a couple of cute in
jokes keep things moving along like when Seb offers to get Mia’s car, of course
everyone in LA drives a Prius like her, her keys have a green ribbon though.
Where the film really excels, is when it documents Mia’s struggles as an
apparently talented actress mucking her way through a series of disposable
roles for a series of rude, uninspired casting directors who seem not all to
enjoy what they do. She has a crappy job, and one would assume lives in a crappy
apartment but no… Even though she shares a several bedroom apartment with
several other struggling actresses, as is the custom in the movies, she lives
in a pretty sweet pad. (Okay, maybe Mom and Dad send a grand or so to help with
rent? Probably not, we see where she comes from in Boulder City, NV later in
the film. Maybe it’s help from Greg, the successful businessman boyfriend
played by Finn Whitrock, who by the way looks like he stole Jeroen Krabbe’s DNA
as David Spade would say.) Mia and Seb’s relationship finally comes together
when Mia accepts an invitation from Seb to see Rebel Without A Cause at the old Rialto theater. Of course,
she forgets she was locked into a date with Greg at a business dinner. She’s ‘sposed
to meet Seb at 10, and in the middle of dinner realizes she can’t really be
happy in this world. She bolts out and makes her way to the Rialto. (How she
gets there is a bit of a mystery, of course a power player like Greg would’ve
insisted on driving them in his ‘Benz.)
Chazelle’s not on as sure a footing, despite his obvious
affinity for music displayed in his two prior features, at presenting
Sebastian’s struggles. Yes, he’s a man stuck in the wrong era but really, the
evil boss at the posh eatery (J.K. Simmons) wouldn’t want Seb to mix in a
little Handel with the pulpy Christmas tunes? Really? A guy who can play concerto
quality piano and the guests are such a bunch of Philistines that all they
wanna hear is Jingle Bells… Hmmm, in Los Angeles, the music recording capital
of the world? Why do I have trouble believing that? Small detail I know, but it’s called quality screenwriting.
Instead of relying on tired filmic stereotypes to create again, false barriers
and obstacles, work a little harder to create realistic roadblocks for our heroes.
Chazelle succeeds when the film delves into Seb gaining a measure of success
when he starts touring with an old jazz cohort played by John Legend. By this
time, the two are in full bloom, living together and loving being in love. But,
things get a little sideways when Seb has to endure an exhausting tour schedule
which will keep him on the road, and in studio, for the next few years. In the
film’s best scene, Mia is actually supportive of Seb’s success, but unsure if
it’s even what Seb wants to do. As is the case in many relationships, mixed
messages and incomplete communication cause misunderstanding. Hearing just a
bit of a conversation Mia has with her Mother on the phone, he hears her
telling her Mom he’s in between gigs at the moment. He takes that to mean he
needs a steady gig and thinks he’s doing what she wants. But, as Mia makes
clear she only wants Seb to be able to support himself so he can really go for
his dream which is to own and operate his own Jazz Club, called appropriately
enough Seb’s. Things get even rockier when Seb misses a huge night for Mia: her
one woman play she puts on, that initially doesn’t go quite as well as she’d
hoped, so much so she decides to give it all up and go home. Despite the
initial heartache, a life changing opportunity emerges from it.
To get into too much further narrative detail here would
spoil the bittersweet, fun. However, one can say the way Chazelle decides to
wind up his tribute to old Hollywood by makes this film truly and wonderfully, and
dare I say it again… bittersweet. He riffs on the ‘ol Hollywood ending, all the
while keeping in mind that just about anyone over 35 has a regret or two about
the road not taken, especially when it comes to relationships. All too often, like Rick in Casablanca it’s about the girl who got away… Despite a few
of my fussing and fidgety misgivings, I can say La La Land hangs around your head long after it’s unfurled,
in the most engaging and wondrous way. Believe it or not, La
La Land would make a fantastic double bill with another late, award
season delight Rules Don’t Apply.
(I saw them on consecutive evening guild screenings in Los Angeles, starting
with Rules Don’t Apply.) Both
films deal with young lovers in a by gone era, whose endings kind of mirror
each other in reverse.
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